Dinner disaster-piece

I have been planning tonight's supper for a few weeks.  My Dad and his wife, Tanya, were planned to arrive in time for supper to begin their 5 day stay with The Guy and me.  Tanya is a good cook and I wanted to do something that would be hearty and impressive.  I thought of my mom's version of Hamburger Soup and I knew it would be just the thing.

A week ago, I sat down and went through the ingredients to make sure I had everything I needed.  I planned out when I would need to start things and how long it would take to cook.  I shopped, I planned, and I plotted.

This morning came and at 11am, I could be found chopping onions, browning meat, and readying the soup pot.  I chopped the veggies, opened tins of diced tomatoes, and prepared the soup.  I finished in record time and sat around twiddling my thumbs waiting for the time when I had to turn on the stove for it's two hour simmer session.

Technically, I didn't twiddle my thumbs.  I made cookies, did 5 loads of laundry, cleaned the tub, walked the dog, planned the bisquits, and read a book.  It was a long 3 hours.

Finally, the time to start the soup came.  I turned the stove on to simmer and walked away.  A couple of hours later, I came to check on it.  The fat from the meat seemed to be congealing more than I remembered it doing in Mom's soup.  It also didn't smell right.  I thought I was just remembering it poorly, but maybe the heat wasn't up high enough.  I cranked the heat up a notch and carried on to make the bisquits.

The bisquits did not go as easily as I had planned.  I used too much moisture and not enough flour.  I ended up having to readjust the flour but that caused me to over-kneed.  They looked nice when they came out, but they were about 1/4 inch high instead of 1 inch.  Ah well, I will have to practice more often.

We sat down to eat in record time.  I served everyone up a serving and settled in to eat.  Dad was half way through his soup when I took my first bite.  It was ice cold.  ICE COLD.  The soup that had been simmering away all afternoon was cold as can be.  I panicked.  I threw everyone's soup in the microwave and apologized over and over again.

I took the soup pot off the table and put it back on the stove.  As I went to turn on the stove I realized what I had done.  I had turned on the wrong element.  I had simmered nothing for 2 1/2 hours. 

This is what happens when I try and cook.  And this is why I order out.